Battle

Scripture tells us of a battle, and it was not an easy battle to win. It was long and protracted, going back and forth, wearying and challenging the people of God. This battle, related in Exodus 17, involved Moses, the children of Israel, and the Amalekites, who attacked them at Rephidim, meaning "rest, refresh, support". During the battle, as long as Moses raised up his rod/staff in his hand, the Israelites prevailed. However, if Moses did not keep his hand raised, the Amalekites prevailed. Moses grew weary, so two of the elders of Israel sat Moses on a stone, stood on either side of him, and held up his hands. The battle lasted all day, until the sun went down, and finally, Joshua, who was leading the Israelites in battle, was able to weaken (discomfit) the enemy enough to overthrow Amalek. The LORD told Moses that He would have war with Amalek from generation to generation. This victory was not final, but the warfare with this nation would be a continuing thing. We would read of another campaign against the Amalekites in the future under King Saul, that would not be a complete success because of Saul's disobedience. Also, Haman, the persecutor of the Jews in the Book of Esther, was a descendant of Agag, a king of the Amalekites (Est. 3:1).
If we look more deeply into this battle with Amalek, we find some interesting things.
First of all, it must have shocked Moses to find that holding out his rod did not produce the immediate result that he had come to expect. This is the same rod that the LORD told Moses would be used to do signs in the authority of God (Ex. 4:17). It is the same rod that Moses used to  bring forth the plagues against Egypt (Ex. 7-10). It was this rod, outstretched in the hand of Moses, that parted the Red Sea, and allowed Israel to cross on dry land (Ex. 14:16, 21). Yet during this battle, Moses had to extend this rod of signs and wonders for hours, before seeing the eventual great victory. Who was this enemy, Amalek, and why was he so hard to defeat?
Amalek was Esau's grandson. Esau had despised his birthright as first born, and felt it had no value to him in the "now", as he expressed. He traded his birthright to his brother for a meal, because he was hungry. As firstborn, he would have carried the seed of promise (of the Messiah) inherited from His grandfather, Abraham, and from his father, Isaac, who was a prophetic type of the sacrificed Christ, but this covenant promise from God meant nothing to Esau. God in His foreknowledge, sovereignly had elected Jacob, the younger twin, instead, to carry this inheritance (Rom. 9:11). Esau even sought to murder his brother.
Esau had a son with his concubine, and named that son "Eliphaz", meaning "my God is pure gold". Eliphaz had a son named Amalek, meaning "valley, or depths". The Amalekites, the descendants of this son, attacked Israel in a place that means "resting place". They attacked the weakest stragglers at the rear of the Israelites. Amalek is described as not fearing God (Deut. 25:17-19). Amalek does not just represent a person, or even a nation, but also the eternal evil, who hates, persecutes, and seeks to murder those whom God has chosen for His own, especially when they are at their weakest.
The mention of the combination of resting place, a rod, and a valley mentioned in this account of the battle with Amalek, brings to mind Psalm 23:
"...He makes me to lie down in green pastures ; He leads me beside still waters (waters of rest). He restores my soul...Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; For You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me."
Also, as Moses had two to support his weary hands, David had two supports in this Psalm-goodness and mercy.
Moses (meaning to draw out of water, to save, to preserve) grew weary, and sat upon a rock (Christ, and the revelation of Him). Aaron (light bringer), Christ as the Light and the Word, which brings light (Ps. 119:105, 2 Pet. 1:19, 2 Pet. 1:19), and Hur (hole, crevice of a serpent, a cell of an abominable subterranean prison; root meaning: white cloth, fine white linen), held up the tired hands of Moses. Joshua ("Jehovah is Salvation") led the Israelites in battle. The fine, white linen, connected to the name "Hur", represents the righteousness of Christ. Christ as righteousness, delivered out of Hell. The righteousness of the saints, also, is founded in faith (Rom. 1:17, 3:22, 4:5, 9, 13, and many more), that faith being that Christ has delivered us from the power of sin, death, and Hell. This righteousness that begins in faith in Jesus, also produces works, or fruits of righteousness in the believer, and the wedding garments of the Bride of Christ for her marriage to the Lamb ( Rev. 19:7-9 ).
At the successful conclusion of this battle, Moses built an altar (sacrifice), and called the place "Jehovah-nissi", or The LORD my Banner (something lifted up, a signal pole, lifted up to be seen far off), like Jesus lifted on the cross of Calvary. An account of the battle was to be written in a book, which was to be read repeatedly to Joshua. "Joshua" would be a form of the name that we know as "Jesus". The memorial of this battle was for the use of Joshua.
To me, this battle represents not only Jesus, and His sacrifice, but also what the battle must have been like that Jesus fought in the three days that He descended into Hell. While there, He preached "to the spirits in prison" (1 Pet. 3:19). He was able to lead those captives (root meaning: precious stones in the high priest's breastplate) out of that captivity (Ps. 68:18-20). Jesus entered Hell in the same manner as He died, as the Son of Man, while also being the Son of God. During those three days, in what we refer to as Hell or Sheol, Jesus, I believe, must have had to do intense spiritual warfare in order to escape the bars of death for Himself and the captives. I base this thought on what Jesus said about Jonah. Jesus told an "evil and adulterous generation" that the only sign that would be given to them was the sign of the prophet Jonah (Mt. 12:39-40, 16:4, Lk. 11:29-30). Jonah was in the belly of the fish for three days and nights (Jonah 1:17). He cried out to the LORD from that terrible place of death:
"Out of the belly of Sheol I cried, and You heard my voice...The waters surrounded me, even to my soul; the deep closed around me...I went down to the moorings of the mountains; the earth with its bars closed behind me forever; Yet You have brought up my life from the pit, O LORD, my God."  Jonah 2:1-6 (excerpt)
In the Psalms, there are also many references of the psalmist crying out to the LORD to rescue him from death, the pit, the grave, the mire, deep waters, darkness, Hell/Sheol, etc. Here are some examples:
"The pangs of death surrounded me...The sorrows of Sheol surrounded me; the snares of death confronted me. In my distress, I called upon the LORD, and cried out to my God..."
"I am counted with those who go down to the pit; I am like a man who has no strength, adrift among the dead, like the slain who lie in the grave...Will You work wonders for the dead? Shall the dead rise and praise You? Selah. Shall Your lovingkindness be declared in the grave? Or You faithfulness in the place of destruction?...But to You I have cried out, O LORD..."  Ps. 18:5-6, Ps. 88:4-13 (excerpt)
Jesus, the Word, must have earnestly prayed all of these many verses on our behalf while He battled the hold of death in the depths of the earth. If death on the cross was unimaginably torturous, why would we think that the battle to break the bonds holding Him in death and Hell would be any less difficult?
This battle between Moses and the Amalekites to me, especially because of the meanings of the names and places involved, is a prophetic type of Jesus' warfare in the pit-to come out of it alive, in resurrection: not only for Himself, but for the other captives there, and for us, the generations who followed. He descended into the depths, and He who lives and was dead, and alive again forever, has the keys of Hades and of Death (Eph. 4:9, Rev. 1:18).
Why is the war ongoing then, according to what the LORD spoke to Moses? The victory is already assured and won for those who believe Jesus' atonement for them, but death, hell, and the grave for all others, will exist until after the  reign of Messiah on earth. At that point, there will be a final warfare. At its conclusion, the devil, those who refused the salvation of God, who were not written in the Book of Life, also Death and Hades, will be cast into the lake of fire, the second death (Rev. 20). Paul says that at Christ's coming, "Then comes the end, when He delivers the kingdom to God the Father, when He puts an end to all rule and all authority and power. For He must reign till He has put all enemies under His feet. The last enemy that will be destroyed is death."  1 Cor. 15:23-26
Similarly, the Amalekite enemy in Exodus 17, is described as one with whom the LORD will have war for many generations because the LORD has sworn it (v. 16). He swore that promise to Abraham when Abraham obediently offered his son Isaac, a type of Christ, on the Mount:
"By Myself, I have sworn, says the LORD, because you have done this thing, and have not withheld your son, your only son...your descendants shall posses the gate of your enemies. In your seed (Messiah, Christ) all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, because you have obeyed My voice."   Gen. 22:16-18
Included in the reference to the enemies' gate above, are also the gates of Hell: "...on this rock (the revelation of the person of Christ-Moses was sitting on a rock) I will build My church (called out assembly-called out of the darkness and into His marvelous light), and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it."  Mt. 16:18
How powerful and awesome is Christ's accomplishment for us!
There are so many more things that can be revealed in this account of the battle against the Amalekites, but even if we stop here, it is more than enough to think about!

Our Father has won the victory over Death and Hell for us through His Son, Jesus.


"The Anthem"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hkAREE-h2Dc

"10,000 Reasons"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DXDGE_lRI0E